


Yoosung Kim's Guide to a First Relationship

by beanplague



Category: Mystic Messenger (Video Game)
Genre: Communication, F/M, First Relationship, Fluff and Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-02
Updated: 2019-05-02
Packaged: 2020-02-16 06:40:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18686170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beanplague/pseuds/beanplague
Summary: Yoosung isn't a perfect boyfriend, but his relationship is kind of perfect, despite all his insecurities telling him otherwise.[unnamed MC/yoosung piece that i did for the yoosung kim zine! twas dope.]





	Yoosung Kim's Guide to a First Relationship

**Tip #1: Kissing**

Yoosung’s first kiss with MC is his first kiss in general. It’s expected to be a little clumsy. The fact that it’s a spontaneous public display happens to be enough to mask the clumsiness.

On a related sidenote, he  _ really _ didn’t think about how much the eyepatch would factor into the situation—and if he did, he assumed it wouldn’t really have anything to do with it. Lips and eyes are different, and kissing is always portrayed as instinctual and easy on television, so why would it matter? Except, well, depth perception is kind of important when it comes to just about anything, and so his first kiss is really,  _ really _ good, but he’s also  _ mostly _ kissing the corner of her mouth, because of the lack of aforementioned depth perception. Whoops.

That said, it isn’t the first kiss that’s especially complicated. It’s all the other ones. There are a lot of intricacies involved in kissing, or, Yoosung  _ feels _ like there are. Even simple things, like a kiss on the cheek upon meeting each other, seem complicated. Is he supposed to initiate it? Would it be weird if he asked beforehand? Would it be even weirder if he didn’t ask? The latter seems more likely—what if he makes her uncomfortable? He’d never want to overstep his bounds, but how does one even  _ ask _ about that sort of thing? Zen would know what to do—wait, thinking about what his friends would do while he’s on a date is weird, right? This is terrible.

“Yoosung,” says MC, as they tread the sidewalk, “You’re thinking too much.”

Yoosung manages a semi-humorous response. “I am not. I’ve never had a thought in my life.”

“You have been looking at me like you wanted to say something for five minutes now,” she replies, “And you’ve had lots of thoughts. In fact, you’re having entirely too many thoughts right now.”

She does have a point. He could be getting into his own head about it. He gets into his own head about a lot of things, and it’s good sometimes! MC likes that he’s thoughtful, or at least she says that she does, and Yoosung tends to believe most of the things she says. She’s a very honest person. She has no reason to lie to him, and Yoosung has no reason to  _ believe _ she would lie to him.

No reason.

At all.

Except, well, Yoosung is still a victim of his own insecurities, and though he has confidence in MC’s honesty, there is some small part of him that thinks she  _ could _ just be saying things to avoid offending him. And as soon as the thought crosses his mind, he regrets it. This was supposed to be a fun day, and his brain  _ just had _ to inform him that he’s a terrible boyfriend who has no idea what he’s doing—

“Hey,” says MC. “Look at me.”

Yoosung is torn away from his thoughts, which is a very welcome thing, at the moment. “I’m looking,” he says.

“Tell me what’s wrong,” replies MC. “Because I can tell something is, and I want to help.”

“Nothing! It’s nothing—why would anything be wrong? Maybe  _ you’re _ thinking too much. Maybe—” he stops. “Okay, yes, something is wrong.”

“And what is that?”

“I want, to, uhm,” Yoosung stops. For a second he thinks, this is going to be  _ so  _ awkward; but then he meets MC’s eyes again and she’s not judgemental in the slightest, and it kind of dawns on him that he’s worrying about nothing. “I want to kiss you.”

Okay. Still awkward, and every second he spends marinating in that awkwardness is another second wherein he wants to call this whole thing off and try again another time, like when you fail a level in a video game and load at the last safe checkpoint.

MC blinks, and then she goes a bit pink in the face. “Oh! Is—is that all?” she says, trying to maintain her cool. Yoosung says ‘trying’ because it’s clear that she’s just as embarrassed as he is, which is actually very reassuring. He isn’t alone in all of his overthinking and insecurity.

He nods, and MC meets his eyes before looking down at her feet. “I think,” she starts, lifting her eyes to meet his again, “that is a very fixable issue.”

Yoosung is pretty sure he undergoes a bit of a malfunction, for a quarter of a second— _ Yoosung.EXE has stopped working, would you like to restart or wait for him to respond? _ Apparently MC picks the second option, because then he says, “Okay,” and the second challenge arises, which is actually kissing her, rather than just thinking about it for longer than necessary. “Could you close your eyes?”

“Oh, you’re right! That’s a thing people do when they kiss,” MC jokes, “Imagine if they didn’t, though? Like, if we kissed and I was just staring directly at you.”

Yoosung feigns a frightened shiver, “That’s terrifying.”

“I know, right! It  _ would _ be really funny, though. I should stop talking. I’m going to stop talking… now. Right now,” she stops talking, and Yoosung is semi-disappointed. He does love listening to her talk, but he also likes kissing her, which he can’t do while she’s talking. Relationships are so hard.

He places one of his hands on MC’s shoulder, and he brushes the dark hair from her face with the other before leaning down to press a quick peck on her lips. Is it weird to be doing this in the middle of the sidewalk, in broad daylight? Yes. Does the joy of kissing her outweigh the weirdness? Absolutely.

When he pulls away, MC eyelids flutter open and she says, “I love you,” and Yoosung’s heart flips. Her face goes red and she adds, “Well! Nice exchange we had there. Good communication.”

“Yeah,” says Yoosung, before adding, “I love you, too. You know that, right?”

MC’s hands move to cover her face. “Yeah, I know,” she almost squeaks.

“What are you doing with your hands?”

“I’m smiling too much, and it would be  _ embarrassing _ —”

“That’s not embarrassing! That’s cute!”

“Of course  _ you _ think so!” MC says, and then she bursts into laughter and Yoosung follows suit. “I love you,” she says, the giddiness dripping off of her voice.

“I love  _ you,” _ says Yoosung, and he means  _ so much _ when he says it. He means it with his whole heart.

She walks closer to him, looks up at him and closes her eyes. They kiss again. This time, it’s easier. He can’t stop smiling.

**Tip #2: Scheduling.**

“Tuesday?”

“I have classes on weekdays. What about the weekend?”

“Don’t hate me, but I have to visit one of my friends over the weekend.”

“I couldn’t hate you for that!”

“I  _ know, _ I know. I just—” MC groans, “I just wish I was free so I could see my boyfriend for once!”

“I wish I was free so I could see my girlfriend!” replies Yoosung, leaning back in his desk chair and looking up at the ceiling. He and MC have been on the phone for around ten minutes now, talking about this and that, but mostly trying to set up their next date. As it turns out, they’re very busy people.

It goes on like it has for a little while. As it stands, the two of them are pretty busy for the month, and the days where one of them isn’t busy are days where the other happens to be busy. It’s very inconvenient. Yoosung has school, which he might have been okay with putting aside in the past, but now he’s trying to  _ do better _ and  _ ready himself for the future _ and all of that other garbage. It’s a total bummer. If only past-Yoosung was the one with the girlfriend, then he’d have so much more time to hang out with her. Of course, he’d have remained game addicted and vaguely depressed, but whatever. You win some, you lose some.

MC, on the other hand, has an active social life in addition to the fact that she  _ also _ goes to school, and the universe didn’t even have the decency to make them go to the same university. Truly, nothing in this world is fair. And, speaking of nothing being fair, Yoosung also has his extracurricular obligations. He may have cut down on LOLOL, but he has friends who he plays with from time to time, and he’d be remiss to flake on them; and then that’s not even getting into the activity meetings he attends at school.

“What if,” says MC, after a few minutes of contemplation, “I came to one of your meetings with the meteor study club? Or maybe I could get into LOLOL or something?”

“For real?” Once Yoosung manages to process the concept, he can hardly contain his excitement. “For real?!”

“For real!” says MC, “I mean, I already play a few video games, and it doesn’t  _ seem _ that hard to get into. And the club meetings sound pretty cool!”

“They are! And LOLOL can be a little overwhelming, but if it’s just me and you and my group of friends it should be fine—” Yoosung cuts himself off, “I should get into the stuff you’re into!”

“Oh, it’s fine! I don’t wanna drag you into anything.”

Yoosung shakes his head, and then quickly realizes that he’s on the phone and MC can’t see him. “It’s not fair if you’re just getting into the things I’m into! And it’s really cool to think about us sharing interests and everything and—” he stops himself before he can ramble for too long, “I would be totally cool with it.”

MC is quiet for a moment, and then she speaks. Yoosung can tell she’s smiling. “Maybe you can visit my school, then. I’ll introduce my  _ cool boyfriend _ to all of my friends.”

“And I’ll get to introduce my  _ cool girlfriend _ to all of my friends! Well, I mean, you already know most of my friends because of RFA and everything, but the other ones! You can meet one of my LOLOL friends,” he says, “And you can meet my friends from school! They’re also pretty cool. You met Star through email for the party, actually!”

“I did! And, uh, sorry for the typing in the background. I’m trying to make a LOLOL account. Should I go healer?”

Okay, maybe this is stupid, but just hearing his girlfriend talk about trying out his interests is really, really nice. Everything is nice with her, but this especially. “I love you,” he says, dreamily.

“I mean, that doesn’t exactly answer the question, but you are killing me! You’re killing me dead!”

“With love?”

“With so much love! I’m getting overloaded. I’m going to shut down soon, like an overloaded computer.”

“Oh! That reminds me—do you have a desktop? I wouldn’t try installing the game on your regular laptop if you don’t. It might not run very well, and it could overheat your computer,” he stops, “I’m sorry, I’m getting over excited about this stuff.”

“Don’t be! I love when you’re excited. It’s very, very cute,” says MC.

“You’re cute!”

“No, you’ve already dominated the cute economy. It is shattering in your wake. You can’t take back the damage you’ve done.”

It goes on like that for a while, and Yoosung is eternally grateful that his girlfriend is as smart and funny (and cute) as she is, and that of all guys, she likes  _ him! _ It really is a statistical miracle. Of all guys, MC is willing to make time for him. She’s willing to look into his interests to spend time with him. And she doesn’t get bored when he starts raving about that one time he built a gaming PC or how the LOLOL community is actually improving now that it’s becoming more popular—she doesn’t mind any of that. She likes him, and not  _ despite _ his interests or quirks, but because of them.

That’s never been anything Yoosung imagined for himself. It’s always been something he thought other guys got out of relationships; something that was reserved for those much more together than he was. Yet he is that guy, now. He’s the guy in the perfect relationship, with the perfect girl, which brings up the question…

What does she see in  _ him? _

**Tip #3: Jealousy.**

He starts thinking more heavily on this when he sees MC talking in the chatroom the next day. 707 is teaching her how to code, and it’s completely innocent—he  _ knows _ nothing is going on—but his mind can’t help but wander.

Because, yeah, nothing is going on  _ right now. _ Maybe nothing will be going on for a while longer, but what if? What if she slowly but surely begins to realize that Yoosung isn’t anything special, but the other guys in RFA are? Zen is an actor, and he’s popular with girls already. Mostly Jaehee, but other girls too. Jumin is almost comically rich, (like, the kind of rich where it’s represented in a cartoon as a pool of gold coins and extremely high bills) and he’s handsome and mature. 707 is funny and smart, and he and MC seem to get along really well. And Jaehee isn’t a guy, but she is intelligent and well put-together, which are things Yoosung has yet to fully achieve. (Well, he  _ is _ intelligent. He has a million test scores from high school that tell him so, but he doesn’t know if any of that knowledge truly equates to the real world. It certainly needs some work, considering the last few years wherein he did nothing but play video games and slack off.)

So when he watches the chat pass by, and 707 talks about how nice it is to be a teacher and MC responds with a string of smiling emoticons, it kind of stings. Even when Yoosung  _ knows _ it doesn’t mean anything. Even when he knows that nothing would ever happen—there’s something about his own insecurity that always gets in the way.

This dreadful thought passes into the next day, and Yoosung and MC are going on a date—MC is coming to one of the meteor study meetings tonight, and it’s actually a really special meeting. Apparently it’s expected that the stars will be much more visible today than they are normally, so they’ve a stargazing event in the park. Some of the club members bring telescopes and beach blankets to sit on, and the park is really pretty in the day already, so Yoosung is pretty excited to see it under the moon and starlight. It  _ sounds _ really romantic, and it definitely would be, if not for the myriad of baggage he’s bringing to it.

And he knows that it’s stupid. He knows the jealousy is an ugly emotion, and that MC would never hurt him in any way. He knows that, and yet he still feels like this, and he feels kind of pathetic for that. The thought pesters him throughout the day with MC, and she seems to notice his irritation.

“Babe,” she says, and that’s almost enough to make him drop all hostile emotions, because that’s a  _ pet name _ and she said it  _ so casually _ —but then he thinks about how one day, she could call someone else babe, and he mentally damns himself for ruining such a cool moment. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“You aren’t fine! You said ‘I’m fine’ in a very not fine way.”

“I’m fine, really,” says Yoosung, and MC narrows her eyes at him, but she seems to let it go. They talk about other, more casual things. For a moment, it seems like all of his previous worries can just melt away.

Except, then MC’s phone buzzes, and all of that bitterness floods right back. Apparently Yoosung doesn’t do a very good job of hiding his stupid, terrible jealousy, because MC recognizes that something is off as soon as she looks at him.

“Seriously, Yoosung, what’s wrong?”

For a moment, he loses himself and says, “I don’t know, why don’t you ask  _ Seven _ —” and then he cuts himself off, immediately realizing how impeccably wrong that statement was, “Oh, God. I’m sorry, I just—” he inhales, and he looks down at his feet.

“Yoosung, it’s fine,” MC puts a hand on his shoulder, “What’s bothering you about Seven?”

“Nothing! I’m just—I keep feeling— _ augh,” _ he groans, “I’m jealous. And I keep  _ feeling _ jealous, all the time, even when I know it’s dumb!” There’s a moment of silence that passes, and every second is one where Yoosung worries that he’s ruined everything.

“It’s not  _ dumb, _ it’s natural,” reassures MC, “And you’ve got nothing to worry about.”

“I mean, I know that, though,” he says, “the problem isn’t that I don’t think you’re faithful—I  _ know _ you are. I just, I don’t wanna feel the way I do. I don’t wanna be that guy.”

“And you’re not!” says MC, “You didn’t get upset with me, aside from that one comment, which you immediately apologized for. You didn’t try going through my phone or tell the other guys not to talk to me or anything. You talked to me about it.”

“I—” he stops, “You’re being too nice.”

“I’m not! I promise, I don’t think any less of you for feeling that stuff,” she says, “In fact, I feel better that you at least talked to me about it. And, well, I’m gonna say something super embarrassing, so don’t make fun of me,” she inhales, and then starts, “I like you a lot, Yoosung, and I want you to talk to me about the things that you feel, because I want this to work. I want to be with you for as long as humanly possible, and I know that these things only work if we, you know, communicate.”

Yoosung pauses, and he looks at MC. He really is so in love with her. He’s in love with everything about her. Everything that contributes to  _ her _ is something he’s in love with. And he could voice all of this, but then he’s suddenly very aware of tip #1 and, well.

“I love you,” he says, “Can I kiss you?”

“See! What’d I tell you about communication,” tries MC, her face quickly going red, “I. Um. Absolutely.”

They kiss, and it’s a soft, brief kiss that feels like it could last a lifetime. She threads a hand through his blond hair, and she says, “This is a really, really awkward thing to do at your stargazing event,” when they pull back and suddenly Yoosung is very aware of the fact that he and MC are in a public park with their other club members. Star, at least, is pretty understanding—as she seems to be squealing to someone else about this very private moment she just witnessed.

They kiss once more that day—well, that night. As the moon settles and the stars beam in the ink-dark sky, and he holds MC’s hand and points at the constellations, he meets her eyes and he realizes that he never needs to worry about anything, because they have it all together. They can learn as they go, and they can take those lessons and carry them over into every future issue. He thinks about these past few weeks, from the first text to now, and all of the problems they’ve encountered, and all of the solutions they’ve come to.

And in his heart he’s confident that they’ll do just fine.


End file.
